Tag: The Thermal Club

IndyCar Notes- New Car, Schedule News

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Photo: Alex Palou celebrates his win at the Thermal Club

There is now a target date for a new Indycar, although it is still quite a way off from racing. On Saturday, during qualifying at Road America, IndyCar sent a press release outlining the features of the new machine, and a proposed timeline for preparation.

If you missed the release, you can find it here:

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Prepares To Introduce Innovative New Car for 2028

I like a lot of what is proposed on the new car, especially the lower weight and more power. The car should have a sleeker profile with an integrated aeroscreen.

I found the timing of this announcement strange. It emerged as the teams were preparing to qualify, and there were no drawings of the design. It appears to the public that this project is still an abstraction.

IndyCar seems to be moving forward assuming that Honda will stay beyond 2026, when their current contract ends

If the series is going to announce something as major as its next generation racer, I would think they would have a prototype on site and present it during the pre race show when the most eyeballs could see it.

I hope we will see what the car looks like before the end of the season. Surely there is a mockup or a car or two in production right now.

Thermal Out, Mexico City In?

News broke a couple hours ago that Thermal will not host an IndyCar race in 2026. I cannot help but wonder if this opens a spot for the long anticipated race in Mexico City.

Club owner Tim Rogers told KESQ in Coachella Valley that he hopes the race can return in 2027. IndyCar had an exhibition race at the club near Palm Springs, California, in 2024, and a points paying grand prix on March 23 this year.

I am glad the race will not return. The venue does not present an image of a major league sporting event. The price point of n early $500 held attendance to only about 3,000 fans.

It’s a fine facility for Spring Training, but that is as far it goes.

As far as the race in Mexico City, it would make sense to slot it in March just before the Grand Prix of Arlington in Texas. With the season opener vat St. Pete scheduled for March1, it looks like the early season gap might be filled in.

Tire Roulette Lands on Red 4- Quick Thoughts on Thermal

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In the end, red tires were the way to finish, as Alex Palou come storming back to take the lead from Pato O’Ward with nine laps to go after a great battle with Christian Lundgaard.

O’Ward led most of the way, but his choice to end on the primary tires cost him the race.

The race itself was another snoozer as cars were strung out for the most part all day. I hope this is the end of Thermal as a points paying venue. The track is not interesting, the surroundings are sterile, and the lack of a crowd visible to viewers at home made the event look small and minor league.

Palou

If anyone still doubted the greatness of Alex Palou, today should have erased all doubts. He took this victory on track with a powerful rush after his final stop. In my opinion this was his best win in the series. O’Ward seemed to have the field covered, yet Palou found a way to win.

Power Saves His Season

Will Power began the day with just five points, a DNF at St. Pete, and a 21st place starting spot. In what was expected to be a track position race, Power ended up sixth and may have put his season in the right direction. He needed a finish like this for the points and his confidence.

Herta Bounces Back

Colton Herta had another great qualifying effort, but unlike St. Pete, he maintained position all day and finished fourth. Herta moved up eight spots in the championship.

Palou/Lundgaard

The battle for second on lap 50 between Palou and Christian Lundgaard was one of the best on track duels I have seen in IndyCar on a road course. The two swapped spots for several corners before Palou took the position and pulled away.

FOX

The glitch was not the network’s fault. An Indycar production truck had an electrical issue. There were some improvements since St. Pete.

The leaderboard had the tire each driver was using after pit stops began, and they showed that graphic as the race wound down.

It seems as if with 20 laps to go, the cars in 14th place and lower are never shown on the screen. I think they are still in the race, and those drivers need to have their names on the screen too.

When will we see a pit stop timer?

The best thing about the broadcast was how much more relaxed Jack Harvey seemed this weekend. The stiffness is gone, and his speech flowed naturally and with confidence.

That will do it for me this weekend. Thanks for following along. I will be on site at Long Beach.

Thoughts on Thermal Qualifying

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Photo by Penske Entertainment

A front row lockout, but not by Andretti, and a Fast Six we are not likely to see again highlighted today’s qualifying session for the Thermal Club Grand Prix.

Pato O’Ward is on pole, and teammate Christian Lundgaard will start alongside tomorrow.

I expected a front row lockout might come from Andretti, who had three fast cars during the practices and advanced all their cars to Round 2. Lundgaard had been quick all weekend, but O’Ward had been lagging somewhat. It was a matter of Pato finally getting comfortable with the car.

“I knew if we could get the car to my liking, I would get it done,” O’Ward said. “I’ve got to thank the guys. We turned it around. We dialed it in after Q1 (first qualifying segment) because I was somewhat happy with it but not perfect. Just made a little bit of an adjustment and as soon as we went out in Q2, I said, ‘I’ve got this.’”

If the McLaren front was a surprise, a bigger shock is that none of the Penske cars advanced out of round 1. Newgarden is their highest starter in 17th. Not since 2021 has the first Penske car started lower than 15th.

Notes

I can’t remember the last time that Will Power failed to advance out of Round 1 on consecutive weekends.

Shout out to Louis Foster. The rookie qualified 10th, ahead of Scott Dixon.

Round 2 will probably hold up as one of the best second rounds of qualifying this season. Marcus Armstrong missed the Fast Six by 0.0728 of a second.

The top four in the Fast Six are separated by less than half a second.

I was glad to see FOX show what tire each driver was on, but the graphic was up for just a few seconds in the middle of each round. The tire graphic is going to be important information for viewers throughout the day tomorrow, and it needs to be up the entire race.

Results

Thermal Practice 1 – Some Things Stay the Same

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While the top of the chart didn’t change at the first Thermal practice, the team that ended the day second, third, and fourth showed that testing paid off handsomely.

Alex Palou had the fastest lap in the two-tiered practice session, with Kyle Kirkwood right on his heels. Kirkwood’s Andretti teammates Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta were third and fourth. Andretti has tested at Thermal earlier this year.

Photo from Penske Entertainment

Kirkwood led the 45 minute segment which was shortened when Robert Shwartzman stopped his burning car on track about halfway through the timed period.

Shwartzman’s fire appeared to be from a fuel leak. The AMR safety team took the car apart on the track, even removing the driver’s seat. He will use the backup car tomorrow. Shwartzman had an issue in St. Pete as well. The rookie has lost a lot of valuable track time in the young season.

The first small group session also had a red flag stoppage when Devlin DeFrancesco got stuck in the sand off course.

David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist had excursions off track, but they were able to continue.

Notes

As expected, tire strategy will be key on Sunday. The primaries looked really shredded after the few laps run today.

FOX

FOX had a timing and scoring graphics issue as practice began., but it was corrected.

The telemetry dash still blocks the sponsors on the aeroscreen frame, but I did notice that the graphic stayed on for a shorter time, and the sponsors got a bit of time, probably not enough.

The driver pictures looked like paintings instead of the cartoons three weeks ago. It is an improvement, but I wonder if FOX has heard of these things called photographs.

I liked the ghost car graphic comparing Will Power and Rosenqvist on a lap. I hope to see more of that during qualifying.

The best thing on the broadcast was the cutaway going inside the cockpit into the interior of the nose to explain brake bias. It was the best thing I have seen from the broadcast partner. More, please.

Results

Thermal Preview

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The good news is that IndyCar has scheduled a race just three weeks after the season opener at St. Pete. The Thermal Club Grand Prix weekend begins tomorrow with the green flag shortly after 3 pm Eastern on Sunday.

The 3.067 mile layout that IndyCar will use is the longer of two tracks at the private club. I spoke with a friend who drove the short track last month. He described it as a narrow, rough surface with lots of tight hairpin turns. The start and restarts may be tricky.

The hybrid system may be more effective at this layout with the long straights. The biggest concern is tire wear.

Tire Strategy

The key to winning on Sunday will come down to tire wear and how many pit stops are necessary. Firestone has reverted to the traditional allotment of six sets of primary tires and four sets of alternate tires for this event due to the abrasive surface.

I could see the entire field starting on alternates and hoping for an early caution to run the rest of the way on primaries. Even then, will the primaries last a full fuel run?

Instead of fuel saving will we see tire saving?

Early Season Pressure

Just one race into the season, two drivers need a good result Sunday after a disastrous St. Pete outing.

Will Power, in a contract year, failed to make the second round in qualifying, and was eliminated in the first lap crash in the opening race. A win this weekend would go a long way to enhance his future prospects.

Colton Herta started second in St. Pete, but bad pit stops dropped him to 16th at the end. Many thought he would win the race. Herta is considered a title contender, and he needs at least a top 10 to get back in the running.

Pato O’Ward, another possible championship driver, salvaged an 11th place finish after a disappointing 23rd starting spot. A decent qualifying position will propel to a good result.

TV Times

All pre-race activity is on FS1, and the race is on FOX. There is heavy competition on the airwaves Sunday with the NCAA tournament and a NASCAR race. It will be interesting to see the numbers on Tuesday.

The schedule:

Times Eastern/Pacific

Friday, March 21 FS1

Practice 1 6:30 pm/3:30 pm

Saturday, March 22 FS1

Practice 2 1 pm/10 am

Qualifying 5:05 pm/2:05 pm-6:35 pm/3:35 pm

Sunday, March 23

Warmup 11 am/8 am FS1

Race 3 pm/Noon FOX